​Crystal Palace goalkeeper Steve Mandanda has decided he is going to stay with the club for the remainder of the season.

​According to L'Equipe, French international Mandanda had met up with Marseille's Sporting Director Andoni Zubizarreta earlier this season to discuss a possible return.

However, despite the 31-year-old being tempted to move back for family reasons, he has decided to stay and fight for his number one spot back off of Wayne Hennessey.

Welsh international Hennessey originally provided cover for Mandanda when the Frenchman missed 11 games due to knee injury in November.

However, some fine displays for Hennessey meant that the former France number one has struggled to earn his number one spot back.

The appointment of Palace's new manager Sam Allardyce does offer Mandanda a bit of hope in regaining his spot sooner than he thought.

'Big Sam' hasn't worked with either keeper before, so it is an even playing field for both of them in terms of trying to become their new boss's preferred choice.

Palace currently sit in 17th place in the league and will be relying on Big Sam's decisions and tactics to help turn their fortunes around.

Allardyce boasts an impressive feat of never being relegated from the Premier League, despite managing teams famous for their relegation scraps.

Palace will have no problem in admitting their team needs strengthening in January, but hopefully some healthy competition for their number one spot will result in some of their defensive mistakes being eradicated.

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